Afghanistan veterans who fired the weapon for the first time this week predicted it would be a “game changing” weapon, a gun that can engage Taliban insurgents using distant ridge-tops, thick mud walls and tree lines as cover.

“It brings, right now, organic to the squad, the capability to defeat targets that we’re seeing everyday in Afghanistan — targets that we can’t currently hit,” said Col. Doug Tamilio, project manager for Soldier weapons with the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier. “It will save Soldiers’ lives, because now they can take out those targets.”